Improvement in railway-rails



f iinted gieten @wat @inline 13mm Putative. 101,611, datednprn 5, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAYRAILS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part ox thesame To allwhom it ma/ycencer'n:

Beit known that l, J OHN O. HAGAN, of Nashville, in the county ofDavidson and State of Tennessee, have invented vcertain new and usefulImprovements in Metal Rails for Railroads; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the annexed drawing forining part of this specification.

.The natureof my invention consists in providing that portion of the topand side of a rail which comes `in contact with the thread and flange ofthe wheel,

with an adjustable head or crown, and attaching this crown to the railby means of suitable grooves, tongues, and bevels, and causing it tooverlap the joints of thc rails, so as to form an unbroken linel ofsmooth surface for the tread of the wheel to travel over, therebypreventing the disagreeable jolting of the cars so un pleasant totravelers, and destructive both to rails and rolling stock.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 represents a perspective view of asection of two rails with the adjustable c aps so placed thereon as tobreak the joint of the rails.

` Figure 2 is a sectional end view of a capped rail, and

Figure 3is a perspective view of asection of the'cap.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

A A represent sections of the rails. B represents `the top or seat, upon-wbich the cap rests.

a is a tongned shoulder, extending along the entire outside of the rail,and

b is a beveled groove or channel, sunk longitudinally along its top.

O is the cap.

c is a groove running along the inner side ofthe cap,

and which inclosesethe tongue a, and

o is a beveled spur or foot, which lls the channel b.

It will be noticed that the beveling ofthe spurv or foot c', when run inchannel `b, will, of itself, prevent the cap C from being removed fromthe railin any other manner than sliding it out horizontally.

The tongue ein the shoulder of the rail-and the groove c in the cap, areintended as additional security for holding the cap in the rail.

Instead of the tongue a and groove c, the inner sides of the shoulderand cap may be beveled to fit each other, as shown by the dotted line d,tig. 2.

The operation of my invention is as follows:

I lay the rails A A in the ordinary manner and then slide the caps C Conto them horizontally, so that vthe joints of the caps and the joint ofthe rails will not come in the same line. In this way I form acontinuous and unbroken line of smooth surface for the treadot' thewheel to travel on, and the flange to press against, which is notinterfered with by theexpansion or contraction of -the metal. I also, bythis arrangement, lock the rails so as to render their displacement byaccident almost impossible, thus rendering travel over a road providedwith my rails much sa't'er than over one provided with the common rails.

These rail-caps may be made of steel, iron, or any other suitable metal.

It is well known that the iron rails now in use are very short lived,the weight of' passing trains wearing and spliting otl their crown orhead, and thereby destroying the entire'raihthe replacing of which isone of the heaviest items of expense that railroad companics', have-tomeet.

Rails made on my improved principle will last an indefinite' number ofyears without being replaced, for that portion of them subject to thewear and tear of passing trains, when injured, can be removed andreplaced bynew caps without displacing the rails, which will be a savingto railroad companies ofmillions of dollars.

Elorts have been made lof late years to introduce steel rails, but theirgreat cost has prevented their going into use.

-The caps of my rails, when made of steel, will cause my rails to serveall the purposes of rails made entirely of steel, and at a cost of.one-fth thatof steel rails. Both therails and their caps can be rolledin the form herein described, at a cost very little in addition to, thatof rolling the common rail.

.Having thus fully described my invention,

What l claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The rail A, provided with the cap seat B, tongue or beveled shoulder ad, and beveled channel b, as described, and the cap O, curved onitsvouter edge, and

provided ou its inner edge with the groove c or bevel.4 1l, and on itsbottom with the beveled tongue c', as described, when lboth are used incombination with each other, in the manner and for the purposes here'-in set forth and described. f JOHN O. HAGAN. Witnesses: JAMES WooDMAx,

GEO. H. HUDSON.

